She turned to him fully then, finding his lips quirked in precisely the manner she’d predicted.
Until now, she would not have thought shehadexpectations about men’s chests. But apparently, she did, for Alexander’s soared high above anything she’d ever imagined.
“What else have you yet to see, I wonder,” Alexander mused, reaching down to undo the buttons of his fall.
The question snapped her out of her reverie. She spun abruptly back toward the wall. The wall, with itsfascinatingwooden beams and uneven plaster.
“Oh, come now, you might enjoy the next part even more than my chest.”
“I’m sorry I stared.”
“I’m not,” Alexander said simply. There wasn’t an ounce of flirtation in his voice, which turned out to be much more affecting thananything else he’d said. The rest of his teasing she could dismiss, but this? A woman could almost believe he was telling the truth.
He truly seemed unbothered by her having seen him disrobe. Harriet couldn’t imagine how she’d feel if he saw her in her chemise. Then suddenly shewasimagining it, and her face heated another degree. This had to be the warmest inn in the entire country, and there wasn’t even a fire in the bloody room.
From behind her, she heard Alexander’s footsteps getting closer, felt her entire body clench in anticipation of … anticipation of … something. Was he going to touch her? Her back tingled. Her insides clenched. She felt his breath against her ear.
“Are you still blushing?”
“No!” she snapped, whirling back to face him, conscious this time to keep her eyes no farther south than his hairline.
“If we were to marry, you’d see a lot more than that.”
“If ?” She knew she sounded shrill, but she found it difficult to keep the panic out of her voice. Thetonwasn’t very forgiving if a lady was found embracing a man in a library; but being found alone in a coaching inn, again with the same man? Was there a word beyondruination?Annihilation, perhaps?
“There is nothing you can offer me that I want, I’m afraid.” Lord Alexander paused and then grinned at her, sliding one arm into the clean shirt. “At least, nothing that requires matrimony,” he teased.
“You don’t bed innocents, my lord.”
“Oh, but you’ve been recently ruined. Regardless, one must always enforce one’s own rules rather liberally. There’s nothing so dull as a man with good discipline.”
“Why, my lord, you must be the most diverting man in England, then!”
“You have no idea.” He shot Harriet a smoldering look, one that might entice a woman to do just about any foolish thing he suggested. A look he’d probably spent years of his life perfecting.
Thankfully, Harriet had learned well to ignore the caprices of a man. Although Alexander’s dark, fiery eyes were much more tempting to give in to than the rheumy, drunk eyes of her father.
“My sister will never sell you her land if you don’t marry me.”
Chapter Seven
ALEXANDER STILLED.HE WANTED THE LAND; MORE PRECISELY, HEwanted his father not to have it. He’d spent most of the last decade buying land out from under his father, usually using other gentlemen’s names so that the duke wouldn’t notice the pattern and put a stop to it.
Recently, he’d formed a tenuous partnership with the unfortunately pious Lord Holden; the only thing the man cared for more than land was God. He had connections in the Lake District and knew the local magistrate from the summers he’d spent in Portinscale as a boy. Lord Holden had made it clear to Alexander that he did not approve of his lifestyle, and Alexander had attempted to be a little more discreet as of late to appease him. If he wanted Hardwicke, he needed Lord Holden’s help.
“It’s why you wanted to meet my sister in the library, was it not?”
“Among other things,” Alexander said, readopting an impassive tone—a mask for how out of control he felt. “I still have no desire to be wed.”
“This might prove difficult for you to believe, but I assure you I have little interest in marrying you.” Alexander felt that was a littlediscourteous—he had not specified that he didn’t want to marryher. He opened his mouth to interject, but Harriet rushed ahead. “I am aware I’m not the … caliber … of woman you likely imagined for matrimony; however, when one ruins a woman, one offers for her. That is the way things are done.”
“I didnotruin you.” Harriet shot him a withering look, but he felt like provoking the harridan. “What we did was as close to ruination as a carriage is to a cabbage. Believe me.”
She ignored the flirtation entirely, but her cheeks seemed to heat a bit.Interesting.
“My only intention is to protect my sisters from scandal. Rather,morescandal. Our father is already quite the stain on our reputation, and certainly Philippa isn’t helping much in the respectability department. I fear even the hint of another transgression would prove fatal for Caroline’s season, and poor Frances isn’t even out yet. I am—as you can tell from the kidnapping—quite desperate. I will be honest, I—”
Alexander decided to cut her off. He was shocked at how many words had just come out of her and how quickly. Before now, he’d assumed wallflowers to be reticent.
